I.C. resident bikes across Japan to raise awareness

10:19 PM,
Sep. 16, 2012

Written by

Tara Bannow
| Iowa City Press-Citizen

In her bicycle trek across Japan last month, Iowa City resident Michelle Gin met a number of hibakusha, the Japanese term for survivors of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S. in 1945.

One woman, a volunteer emergency aid worker, recounted to Gin her experience of rushing to the hospital just after the bomb dropped. The streets were filled with burned bodies and hands reached for her ankles for help as she walked by.

"How can we do this to other people - no matter the reasons?" 23-year-old Gin said Sunday. "There are other ways to solve problems." ...